Masonic Ritual – Forms and Ceremonies

Masonic Ritual – Forms and Ceremonies

Feb 7, 2023 | Masonic Ritual

MASONIC RITUAL

Forms and Ceremonies

MASONIC RITUAL EXPLAINED BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE CUSTODIANS OF THE WORK

Should the Senior Deacon look around to make sure everyone is on the Sign of Fidelity before attending at the Altar?

No.

Oh, you want more explanation? Sure. He doesn’t do this because it is not, nor has it ever been, a duty of the Senior Deacon to ensure that all present comply with our forms and ceremonies. This duty resides with the Worshipful Master alone.

If a Brother is not at the Sign of Fidelity when they are supposed to be at the Sign of Fidelity, the Master can choose to remind him or choose not to remind him. It’s the Master’s decision. Keep in mind that if you, as the Master, choose to address the Brother who is not at the Sign of Fidelity, you risk breaking the magic of the ceremony. It is wise to remind our Brothers of proper Lodge ritual and etiquette but it is best to keep any constructive criticism until after the Lodge is closed and in private.

Response provided by RW Samuel Lloyd Kinsey
Chairman, Custodians of the Work, Grand Lodge of New York

Note: This site is an excellent source of information about Freemasonry. While every effort has been made to provide accurate and up-to-date information about Masonic Ritual, please remember that a website is not a substitute for your jurisdiction’s Standard Work or Approved Ritual.
Start with WHY

Start with WHY

Jan 26, 2023 | Masonic Education

EDITORIAL

START WITH “WHY”

The Deeper Meaning of The Square in Self-Reflection

In 2009, Simon Sinek’s bestseller, “Start with Your WHY” changed the basic principles of brand marketing. He suggests rather than lead with traditional benefits or features, begin your message by stating your passion. Consumers are more interested in why you are passionate about something rather what you do. A good example of this principle is how Apple markets their products. Apple begins with a theme that connects on a personal level: safety, security, health and fitness are a few examples. I share Sinek’s belief that consumers want to have relationships with the brands and companies they use. Starting with your why creates an opportunity to share your passion and form an organic connection.
My resolution for 2023 is to take a better personal inventory of events and pause for daily moments of reflection on these experiences. Part of my practice is rather than asking why an event happened, I look to find why did something happen THIS way. I then search deep in my emotions to embrace the lessons learned from the outcome of life experiences. I have become fascinated with the idea that there are endless tiny points that all lead up to BIG moments. My goal is to identify the one factor in a series of events that produced a particular outcome.
I’m sure you are thinking, hey, this sounds pretty deep. Yes, it is. But where is the Masonic connection? I’m glad you asked!

I have struggled with the explanation of the Square as a Working Tool. As Fellowcraft, we are simply told the Square is help us square our work. I don’t think anyone else who appreciates structurally strong buildings or perfect corners would disagree that a square is a useful tool. But I don’t believe that is the Square’s WHY.

Morality is the key theme in Masonic Ritual. And as a symbol, the Square is impressed upon us to guide our actions by being honest and fair. This goes deeper than being truthful or kind in all of our dealings. By reflecting on our conscious, we consider the multitude of choices and decisions presented in daily life. How those moments are influenced by our attitudes, emotions, and feelings — which also change over the course of a day. And when you analyze the many parts that make up the sum, you can then isolate that one point where an action was influenced by that choice between “right” and wrong.

Reflecting on our actions as part of a daily routine is more than an exercise in self-awareness; it is also an opportunity to apply the Square as a Working Tool to measure our Ashlar. Not to seek perfection, but rather to shape our structure to be strong and sound.

Written by:
Bro. Michael Arce
Co-Founder, Craftsmen Online

Masonic Ritual – Master Mason Without

Masonic Ritual – Master Mason Without

Jan 12, 2023 | Masonic Ritual

MASONIC RITUAL

Master Mason without

MASONIC RITUAL EXPLAINED BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE CUSTODIANS OF THE WORK

Can an Entered Apprentice oR Fellowcraft occupy any officer’s chair in an Entered Apprentice or Fellowcraft Lodge, respectively, at the invitation of the Master?

Yes, with one exception. As described in our Ritual, the Lodge is tiled by a “Master Mason without.” Otherwise, it is the prerogative of the Master to delegate performance of any portion of the Work to any qualified Mason. There is no Masonic basis that would enjoin the Master from delegating Work to an Entered Apprentice or Fellowcraft, as they are entitled to knowledge of all the Ritual performed by Lodges working in the Degrees they hold, and thereby qualified to perform the same. Notwithstanding, there is also no Masonic principle that an officer’s chair must be occupied unless the Ritual calls for performance by that officer. Thus, for example, while the Master could invite an Entered Apprentice to occupy a Steward’s chair for a regular meeting, there is no reason for him to do so.

Stepping away from purely Masonic considerations, we note a 1928 Judge Advocate Opinion (GLNY) regarding visiting Degree teams holding that the Master “can fill all or any of the stations by any Master Mason.” This might be construed to preclude Ritual delegation to Entered Apprentices and Fellowcrafts, but there are some important factors against this interpretation:

⤚ First, the Opinion does not consider the question of delegation to Entered Apprentices and Fellowcrafts because visiting Degree teams would only have included Master Masons in the custom and practice of the time
⤚ Second, because it does not explicitly rule out such delegation, the Opinion is not properly interpreted as restricting delegation to Master Masons only
⤚ Third, in Lodges that regularly admit Entered Apprentices and Fellowcrafts it is already commonplace for Brothers of these Degrees to perform such portions of the Master’s Work as presentation of the Working Tools and exemplification of the Lectures of Forms and Ceremonies

And finally, as a general matter, Lodges don’t contemplate seating Entered Apprentices and/or Fellowcrafts in officers’ chairs unless there is an insufficiency of capable Master Masons present, and we should not place roadblocks in the way of Lodges working to revitalize by involving such Brothers to participate in its life and works.

Response provided by RW Samuel Lloyd Kinsey
Chairman, Custodians of the Work, Grand Lodge of New York

Note: This site is an excellent source of information about Freemasonry. While every effort has been made to provide accurate and up-to-date information about Masonic Ritual, please remember that a website is not a substitute for your jurisdiction’s Standard Work or Approved Ritual.
Freemasonry As a Way Of Awakening

Freemasonry As a Way Of Awakening

Jan 5, 2023 | Magpie Mason, Masonic Education

MASONIC BOOK REVIEW

FREEMASONRY AS A WAY OF AWAKENING

Written BY Rémi Boyer

Freemasonry as a Way of Awakening
France’s Rémi Boyer has immersed himself for decades in studying philosophies and initiatory rites, among other things, and has authored a book for understanding Freemasonry. His knowledge and experience lead him to see Masonic initiation as metaphysical, and his prose is patient and instructive, but while Freemasonry as a Way of Awakening presents brilliantly conceived and stated ideas, it may confound Freemasons of the Anglo-American tradition—that is to say, most of us.
The first two paragraphs prime the reader:

“From the outset, let’s state the paradox. Initiation is not thought of, it manifests itself, it is realized, outside of all linearity conducive to thought in which the person de-realizes himself. Initiation is ‘unstoppable’ only in a state of non-thought. Silence is required. The more the literature devotes pages to the subject, the more the so-called initiatory orders multiply and the less they encounter, not only ‘initiates,’ but the ‘initiatables,’ who themselves are rare. Time is confusing while the initiatory ushers in fusion with Being.

“Initiation is by nature indefinable, elusive as the Spirit. Always, it is an initiation to one’s own original nature or ultimate reality, to the Real, to the Absolute, to the Divine, to what remains, no matter the words, since, precisely ‘there,’ there are no words.”

So, you see, 2B1ASK1 is not a consideration here. Boyer writes of and for the Egyptian Rite.
Likewise, our notions of receiving Light and of “making good men better” are blurry in Boyer’s vision. It’s not that they are contrary or unimportant goals, but this author likens initiation to art. He sees those two as avenues for “controlled madness, madness that allows the overcoming of the limits of the conditioned person.”
Masonic initiation, as Boyer recommends, is comprised of seven stages: the request for initiation; analysis of the request; passage under the blindfold; initiation instruction and orientation to the tradition; the “first” initiation; the initiatory work; and evaluation. As a blindfold conjures a familiar image and key aspect of our own rituals, I’ll skip to No. 3 and explain what Boyer intends. Employing the blindfold is not so much to keep the candidate in a state of darkness until the moment comes to bring him to Light; the blindfold here indicates “a plunge conducted by the candidate into the darkness of self.” It is akin to the alchemical decomposition of raw matter, and the unmasking heralds the start of awakening. “It must leave a slight crack in the continuity of the person” so that initiation will “turn this slight crack into a fissure”and the deeper the fissure, the deeper it descends into the depths of the psyche, and the more it allows the radiance of the light of Being.”
A meeting of early 19th century Freemasons in which an apprentice or candidate is introduced to the Lodge.
To be sure, there are passages of this book that ring clearly to the Anglo-American Masonic ear. Chapter 8 is titled “Dysfunctions in the Initiatory Process,” and it begins with a description familiar to many of us: “Internal struggles, competitions between organizations, the ‘professionalization’ and ‘commodification’ of initiation are commonplace. They reflect the radical break with traditional rules and principles and the lack of initiatory work by the leaders of these organizations more concerned with their careers than with their awakening.” Still, even these disappointments can be overcome, Boyer explains, by those on a quest who can see beyond the habits of fallible people.
Where our Freemasonry prescribes moral lessons to make a good man better, Boyer shows us a different way down the Masonic path. Actually, there isn’t a single path, as “the initiate is always at the center of an infinity of possible paths.” It’s about psychology, and the context of everything must be respected. The potential candidate for initiation must not be regarded only as someone seeking admittance, but he has to be considered as a person with a psyche shaped by age, social and economic status, family life, any traumatic past experience, and other factors that cause the interviewer “to harmonize himself” with the petitioner. Even the generations and geography are significant (time and space are important understandings in this book), as the author plainly points out how seeking Masonic membership in Paris today is very different from when the city was held by Nazi forces during World War II.
The lengthiest, by far, and possibly most illustrative chapter of the book is devoted to questions that you might have for the author. In fact, they are questions put to Boyer in seminars he conducted in Europe. From “What is the ultimate function of ritual?” to “What is the true nature of the work of a venerable master?” and fifteen others all serve to enlarge finer points from the main body of the text. And then follow nearly fifty pages of appendices that, sometimes, might qualify as Too Much Information!
Freemasonry as a Way of Awakening, published in English for the first time, truly can rouse the Brother Mason of the Preston-Webb-Cross tradition to see how some brethren in Europe tend to their labors. It’s never a question of one way is superior to another. As always with Boyer, context is crucial, as “initiation in a lake village does not rely on the myths that underlie a mountain initiation.”
Written by The Magpie Mason

The Magpie Mason is a Past Master who tiles Publicity Lodge 1000 and calls the Craft from labor to refreshment at The American Lodge of Research, both in New York City. He also is the immediate past president of the Masonic Society.

Top Five Esoteric Books for 2023

Top Five Esoteric Books for 2023

Dec 12, 2022 | Masonic Education

MASONIC EDUCATION

Top Five Esoteric Books for 2023

Recommended reading for the New Year

It is said Freemasonry is embedded in Hermetic principles incepting from various religions the Egyptians, Hebrews, Babylonian, and ancient India, etc. Some Masons postulate that there is no esotericism in Freemasonry and conclude no reciprocity to Egypt. I advise Brethren to read the Cooke Manuscript the supposed 2nd oldest masonic manuscript after the Regis Manuscript it reads:
“In this manner was the [a]foresaid art begun in the land of Egypt, by the [a]foresaid master Englet, and so it went from land to land, and from kingdom to kingdom. After that, many years, in the time of King Athelstan, which was sometimes king of England, by his councilors, and other greater lords of the land, by common assent, for great default found among masons, they ordained a certain rule amongst them: one time of the year, or in 3 years as need were to the king and great lords of the land, and all the commonalty, from province to province, and from country to country, congregations should be made, by masters, of all masters, masons, and fellows in the [a]foresaid art, and so, at such congregations, they that be made masters should be examined, of the articles after written, and be ransacked whether they be able and cunning to the profit of the lords [having] them to serve and to the honor of the [a]foresaid art.”
Nonetheless, since we are in a different era and age of information there is a pubescent of generational Masons who are seeking light and interest in esotericism. Freemasonry is modifying and becoming more focused on the educational aspect of the craft. Albert Mackey once said: “So there are some Masons who think the mere act of initiation is at once followed by an influx of all masonic knowledge. They need no further study or research. All that they require to know has already been received by a sort of initiation process.”

Mackey also says, “One who commits to memory the questions and answers of the catechetical lectures, and the formulas of the ritual, but pays no attention to the history and philosophy of the Institution, is commonly called a Parrot Mason, because he is supposed to repeat what he has learned without any conception of its true meaning.”

Here are my Top 5 recommended esoteric books:

1. Manly P. Hall, “The Lost Key of Freemasonry: The Legend of Hiram Abiff”It reveals the basic esoteric symbolism of the 3 blue lodge Degrees, interpreting the spiritual ties in Freemasonry, but also that the craft is more than a mere social organization, as it is a Mystery School.
2. J.S.M Ward, “Who is Hiram Abiff”

This Book goes into the origins of Hiram Abiff analyzing the Mesopotamian and Greek Theology connection to Hiram with Tammuz and Adonis. Mr. Ward wrote a plethora of esoteric works; although he was a controversial figure his works are noteworthy.

3. John Fellows A.M, “The Mysteries of Freemasonry: Or an Exposition of the Religious Dogmas and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians”

This book written in 1860 explains the Mysteries of Freemasonry and its dogmatic connection to Ancient Egypt.

4. J.D Buck, “The Symbolism of Freemasonry or Mystic Masonry”

This read explores mystical aspects of Freemasonry and the spiritual significant effect one obtains through the initiations.

5. William James Hutchinson, “The Spirit of Masonry”

This Book concentrates on the inner mysteries of the Masonic ceremonies and rites as well as the nature of the lodge, its furniture, and jewels.

“To live in the world without becoming aware of the meaning of the world is like wandering about in a great library without touching the books.”
-Manly P Hall

Written by Bro. Rene J. Perez
Marshal, George Washington #285
Manhattan, New York